messengers or ambassadors from a large body of Indians, united in the
common cause of defence, near the Cordillera. The tribe to which they
had been sent was on the point of holding a grand council, the feast of
mare's flesh was ready, and the dance prepared: in the morning the
ambassadors were to have returned to the Cordillera. They were
remarkably fine men, very fair, above six feet high, and all under
thirty years of age. The three survivors of course possessed very
valuable information and to extort this they were placed in a line. The
two first being questioned, answered, "No se" (I do not know), and were
one after the other shot. The third also said "No se;" adding, "Fire,
I am a man, and can die!" Not one syllable would they breathe to injure
the united cause of their country! The conduct of the above-mentioned
cacique was very different; he saved his life by betraying the intended
plan of warfare, and the point of union in the Andes. It was believed
that there were already six or seven hundred Indians together, and that
in summer their numbers would be doubled. Ambassadors were to have been
sent to the Indians at the small Salinas, near Bahia Blanca, whom I
have mentioned that this same cacique had betrayed. The communication,
therefore, between the Indians, extends from the Cordillera to the
coast of the Atlantic.
General Rosas's plan is to kill all stragglers, and having driven the
remainder to a common point, to attack them in a body, in the summer,
with the assistance of the Chilenos. This operation is to be repeated
for three successive years. I imagine the summer is chosen as the time
for the main attack, because the plains are then without water, and the
Indians can only travel in particular directions. The escape of the
Indians to the south of the Rio Negro, where in such a vast unknown
country they would be safe, is prevented by a treaty with the
Tehuelches to this effect;--that Rosas pays them so much to slaughter
every Indian who passes to the south of the river, but if they fail in
so doing, they themselves are to be exterminated. The war is waged
chiefly against the Indians near the Cordillera; for many of the tribes
on this eastern side are fighting with Rosas. The general, however,
like Lord Chesterfield, thinking that his friends may in a future day
become his enemies, always places them in the front ranks, so that
their numbers may be thinned. Since leaving South America we have
heard that this war of extermination completely failed.
Among the captive girls taken in the same engagement, there were two
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